Anywhere Place
by MidnightRoulette
Summary: Oneshot. Roy's just discovered that everything he is has been a lie. Artemis knows what it's like to hate where you come from. She's decided to help him stop feeling sorry for himself. Roy/Artemis friendship. Romance if you squint.


Author's Notes: So this was basically written for my good friend Omni for her birthday. She wanted Clone!Roy and Artemis bonding and I agreed to write it for her :p It was posted on my Tumblr (Awakeforthenight) like a week ago, but for obvious reasons I said not to read it unless you wanted spoilers. Now that that's not a problem I'm posting it here for all of you lovely people 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

* * *

Anywhere Place

* * *

_Now that the trees are gone, and the water's cool,_

_I'll go back to where I can find what's true._

* * *

All Roy wants to do is jump off of a building, or drown himself in his own blood, maybe even rip out all of his fingernails, one by one. Just to make himself suffer. He doesn't want to die—no definitely not. At this point, death would be far too merciful for someone like him. He just wants to suffer for what he's done.

To his team, his allies, his _friends._

All this time, _all _this time of searching for the mole, and in the end it was _him._

"_There is no mole," _he had said to Artemis, a _smile_ on his face, certainty in his voice.

_Yeah right, _he thinks, angrily spitting over the side of the building. The people below manage to avoid the spit, and none of them even glance upward. They just continue down the street, talking on their cell phones, and going about their business.

The world would go on, around him, no matter how much he felt like it should be cracking and breaking off into a million tiny pieces.

He'd had no idea. No _fucking_ idea that Vandal Savage had been controlling him, no _fucking _idea that Sportsmaster's nickname for him "Broken Arrow" would trigger his mole programming.

And he'd had no _fucking _idea that he wasn't even the real Roy Harper.

Every memory, every breath he'd taken, _everything_ he'd done as _Roy Harper_ was a lie. Because he was just a cheap knock off of the real Roy. A fake, a fraud, a _clone_. No matter which way you spun it, whether Roy had knowingly been the mole or not, whether the real Roy Harper was dead or alive, it didn't matter.

He had been living someone else's life, pretending to be a hero, pretending to be friends with the team. It was all a big lie.

_This _Roy. The one standing at the edge of a building rooftop is nothing special. He was created in a test tube like Superboy, designed to infiltrate the Justice League for the leaders of the Light. He never learned Archery from Brave Bow, never struggled with his heroin addiction, never had his first kiss with Gina Loren in the seventh grade.

He'd never really been a hero.

He wasn't really Red Arrow, or Speedy, and he never had been. The Roy Harper that had befriended Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash was a phony. None of it meant_ anything_ anymore.

Roy thinks on this as he stands at the edge of the roof and looks down. The building is tall enough to where, if Roy were to just step off, he would live, but be seriously injured. Maybe break both of his legs, or an arm. He wants so badly to just go back in time, before any of it had even gone down and maybe—

_Maybe what?_ he thinks angrily. Logically, he knows there's _nothing_ that could've been done. He was _born this way _and no amount of wishing or wanting is going to fix the situation.

"You don't want to do that."

Roy jumps at the sound of somebody else's voice behind him and turns, fists instinctively raised, ready to fight. He relaxes when he sees it's just Artemis.

"Oh…it's you," he says quietly, unable to look Artemis in the eye.

The other archer is standing, her arms folded across her chest, glaring at Roy with those stormy grey eyes. Everything in her posture radiates anger, rage, disappointment, and Roy can't blame her. He deserves every single bit of hate the team and the League is going to give him.

Artemis sighs. "Why don't you step down from the ledge, Roy. I want to—"

"Don't," he growls, unknowingly stepping down from the building ledge. "Don't _call _me that when it's not even my real name."

Artemis looks confused. "Well what do I call you then, dumbass? _Clone? Fake Roy? Roy Number Two? _Is that what you want?"

Roy glances away, frustrated. She's right. What are people supposed to address him as? He doesn't want to continue this charade of being Roy Harper, but it's the only identity that he and they have ever known.

"Fine," he snaps, "Roy it is. Now what do you want?"

Artemis raises her hand in surrender. "I just wanted to talk to you, okay?"

"So talk," he mutters.

She shakes her head, blonde hair swishing behind her as she does. "Not here. This might take a while."

"Here's as good a place as any," Roy argues, gesturing to the empty rooftop. "Not like anyone's going to climb up here and interrupt."

Artemis rakes a hand through her hair and levels Roy with a smoldering glare. "I don't want to have to worry about you jumping off the building while I'm mid-rant." Roy opens his mouth to argue but Artemis silences him with another look. "I know you'd rather sit up here and feel sorry for yourself, but I think you should hear me out."

Roy nods, watching as she abruptly turns on her heel, calling out, "Your car's downstairs. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed it to get here."

* * *

Roy doesn't really understand why Artemis has driven him to Diver's Cove. It's the most notorious makeout spot in Star City, and as Artemis pulls up onto the very edge of the cliff, he's sort of hoping that they really are just here to talk.

Not that Artemis wasn't attractive, because if he was being honest, she was pretty damn hot. But considering his relationship with her sister—something he hadn't even yet begun to address—and his newly discovered circumstances, he was in no shape to be starting any kind of new relationship.

She says nothing as she parks the car and gets out, not even waiting for Roy to do the same. He reluctantly gets out of the car and follows her to the edge of the cliff, where she's kicking off her shoes and taking off her jacket.

"Come on, sit," she says, noticing him standing behind her awkwardly.

He sighs and lowers himself to the ground next to her, scooting forward to let his feet dangle over the edge as well.

"Anything else you'd like me to do, _Princess_?" Roy sneers.

"Yeah," Artemis snorts. "Take off the damn rape face. Would it kill you to smile every once in a while?"

Roy furrows his brows. "Sorry. But would you smile if you'd just found out you're not even a real person?"

Artemis glances away and instead focuses on the thundering waves, crashing about fifty feet below them. "I guess not."

"Thought so," Roy says, his voice smug. "Now why did you bring me all the way out here just to talk?"

Artemis shrugs, and Roy's eye twitches. "I don't know, I guess—", Artemis pauses to exhale, "I just thought you might want to talk about what happened. Plus, Ollie might've told me that you were looking a bit suicidal."

Roy groans. Of course Ollie would think he was trying to kill himself. Roy was taking on the hardest, most dangerous assignments just to punish himself. No wonder Ollie was _concerned._

"Thanks Ollie," Roy scoffs, raising an eyebrow. "And you're offering to be a friend?" Roy shakes his head. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. After the way I treated you, all the accusations—"

"Its fine," Artemis waves him off.

"What? Of course it's not_ fine_. I had you pegged as a traitor, purposely singled you out because of your shady past when all along it was—"

Roy broke off, unable to say the words out loud. "I should be apologizing. And you should be hating me, not trying to help."

Artemis snorted. "You don't have to apologize. Honestly, I've had people accuse me of worse things, if you can believe it." Roy opened his mouth to ask, but Artemis cut him off. "And before you say anything, _no_ I'm not going to talk about it, because we're not here to talk about my issues. We're talking about _yours._"

Roy sighs, leaning back onto his forearms. "There isn't much to discuss. I'm a _fucking clone._ I'm not the real Roy Harper. Hell, I'm not even human. I don't even know who or what I am."

"You're a hero," Artemis says, poking a finger at his chest. He stares down at it disbelievingly and shakes his head.

"No, I'm the _mole_ that's what I am." Roy snaps. "I was _designed_ to be a traitor."

Artemis raises an eyebrow. "You couldn't help it, it was mind control."

"_That's no excuse_," Roy growled. "And it doesn't help anything. It just proves that I shouldn't even be near any of you. The League, the team, Ollie… _anyone._"

Artemis rolls her eyes. "They already checked you for any other abnormalities, they said you were—"

"It doesn't change what I did," Roy says quietly, clenching his fists and digging his nails into his hands so hard he thinks he might break skin. He just wants everything to go back to the way it was. Before he knew the truth, before any of this had happened.

And then Artemis is placing her hand over his, asking him to stop. He releases his tight grip and lets Artemis smooth out his hands.

She pulls back, satisfied that he's stopped being so angry, and tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Look. You may not be the real Roy Harper. But you're the Roy Harper that I know. That Kaldur and Wally and Robin have all grown up with."

"None of us knows the real, Roy Harper," Artemis shrugs, "and it doesn't make a lick of difference to us whether you're a clone or not. I haven't known you for long, but before I even started working with Green Arrow, I used to watch you on the news. I would _always_ see you and Ollie on the news and I used to wish I could _be_ like you.

"The fact that you're not the real Roy Harper doesn't make you any less of a hero. You saved a lot of people, did a lot of good. You were just dealt a shitty hand in life. And trust me. I know all about being ashamed of where you came from. I cornered the market on that one."

Roy raises and eyebrow studying Artemis for any sign of hesitance or dishonesty. There is none, he realizes, and for once, he actually believes the words coming out of her mouth. He'd always been mistrustful of her because of her past, because of her obvious ties to the League of Shadows, but she seems to genuinely want to help him.

"You…make a fair point," Roy allows, turning to stare off at the ocean. "I just don't know how I can…live like this."

Artemis shrugs. "You just do. You survive. Get on with your life."

Roy shakes his head. "That's not good enough. Something has to be done. Justice has to be served…"

Roy trails off, knowing that what he wants to do will be next to impossible, considering who they're up against. But he needs to find the real Roy Harper, whether dead or alive, so that he can live his life in peace.

"I need to find the real Roy," he voices his thoughts aloud. "Not just for me. But for Ollie too. He deserves to know what happened to his real son."

"Hey." Roy flinches as the softness in her voice. She's never spoken to _him_ like that. "You _have_ been his real son. For the past three years. And I _know_ he would care if you just suddenly disappeared."

Roy glances at her. "I appreciate that Artemis."

She shrugs, standing up. Roy follows suit, raising an eyebrow as she studies the rocks below. "Yeah well. I don't make a habit of being this mushy. Tell anyone and I'll deck you."

Roy laughs. "Right. Of course."

They stand side by side, in comfortable silence, simply listening to the sound of the thundering ocean, watching the sun go down in the distance. A chill raises gooseflesh on his arms and he glances at Artemis who's smirking at him.

"…what?" he asks suspiciously.

She simply extends her hand to him, and glances down at the ocean. Roy stares at her extended arm. _Is she thinking what I think she's thinking?_

"Come on," Artemis laughs. "I don't have cooties I swear."

He rolls his eyes, and interlaces his fingers with hers. "Wow. She deigns to touch the hand of a traitor."

Artemis snorts, but then her expression grows serious. "You might be the biggest tool I've ever met… but you're not _so_ bad. And since I know you were so anxious to jump off of something…"

She gestures out with her free arm to the water below them and shrugs. "I figured this would be as good a place as any."

He smirks at their entwined hands and back up to her face. "Together?"

"…you know it."

There's a whoosh of air and the two of them disappear over the cliff, the sound of their screams echoing throughout the cove, all of their worries and problems disappearing with them.


End file.
